Friday, October 2, 2015

Willow Brook Road - Sherryl Woods

Willow Brook Road

Sherryl Woods

Mira,
Sep 29 2015, $7.99

ISBN: 9780778317661

With her fashion career comatose and her relationship with her
boyfriend dead, Carrie Winters leaves Paris for her home in Chesapeake Shores,
Maryland to attend the Christmas wedding of her twin sister Caitlyn (see The
Christmas Bouquet) and regroup. Her
family welcomes her back into the fold which feels nice and warm; but led by
her well-meaning grandfather Mark O’Brien; her relatives also intrude into her
life. Observing how good Carrie is with
her nephew, her cousin Luke O’Brien (see The Summer Garden) suggests she
open up a daycare center; which she does.

Two weeks ago, as he was about to move into his new home in
Chesapeake Shores, Sam Winslow learns his sister and brother-in-law died in a
horrible accident. He has no time to
grieve his loss since he became his hurting bewildered six year old nephew
Bobbie’s guardian. Lacking parental
skills and aware that Bobbie’s needs gives him no time for trial and error, Sam
turns to Carrie for help. Neither Carrie
nor Sam expected to fall in love, but besides their respective relationship
phobias holding them back; both accept Bobbie comes first.

The thirteenth Chesapeake Shores contemporary (see Dogwood Hill) is a pleasant holiday
family drama due to three-dimensional leads (especially the frightened child)
supported by the usual extended O’Brien meddling “suspects”. Though the romance takes an obvious backseat
to Bobbie but also impacted by the adults’ hesitations, Sherryl Woods reminds
her fans "Life moves pretty fast. If you don't slow down and look around,
you might miss it" (Ferris Buehler's Day Off).